Aequs shares settle 21% higher than IPO price on debut day

Aequs listing ceremony at NSE

The shares of Aequs made a decent market debut on stock markets on December 10, listing at Rs 140 per share on NSE. This marks a premium of 12.9 percent over the IPO price of Rs 124 per share. The company debuted on the stock markets with a market capitalization of nearly Rs 9,400 crore.

The stock then rose over 7 percent to close at Rs 150 per share, implying a rise of 20.97 percent over the IPO price. Its market cap at the end of the debut day stood at around Rs 10,060 crore.

This comes after the Rs 922-crore IPO saw strong investor interest during its three days of public bidding, being subscribed nearly 102 times its offer size between December 3 and December 5.

Listing premium vs grey market estimates:

The listing performance has significantly missed grey market estimates. Ahead of listing, the unlisted shares of the company were trading with more than 19 percent grey market premium (GMP) over the IPO price, according to data on Investorgain.

According to IPO Watch, the unlisted shares of the company were trading with 22.58 percent GMP over the IPO price.

Should you buy, sell or hold?

Aequs is a vertically integrated precision manufacturing company headquartered in Karnataka's Belagavi, operating India's first precision engineering SEZ and serving both the aerospace and consumer segments, said Narendra Solanki, Head Fundamental Research - Investment Services, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.

Solanki said investors may consider booking partial profits on listing and holding the rest for long-term post listing. “At the upper price band, the company is valued at 8.9x FY25 P/S, implying a post-issue market cap of Rs 83,161 million and an EV/EBITDA of 122.9x," the analyst said.

Prashanth Tapse, Research Analyst at Mehta Equities, said that the company is asking for a price-to-book multiple of 5.7x on FY26 annualised earnings, which appears reasonable compared with listed peers trading at an average of approximately 10x. “Given its strong competitive positioning, global customer relationships, and alignment with India’s expanding aerospace manufacturing opportunity, we recommend that allotted investors ‘Hold for long term'," Tapse said.

Aequs stands out because it offers a "one-stop shop" manufacturing model - from forging to finishing to final assembly — giving it a competitive edge in quality, compliance and delivery reliability that few contract manufacturers match, said Mahesh M. Ojha, VP - Research & Business Development at Kantilal Chhaganlal Securities.

"Compared with other aerospace and precision-engineering players, Aequs operates in a higher-value niche but remains in the early stages of profitability,” he said. “The company is currently valued at 8.9× price-to-sales and 122.9× EV/EBITDA, which reflects both its strategic positioning and the market’s expectation of margin expansion as volumes scale," he added.

Ojha advised investors to consider booking partial profits on listing gains and holding the rest for long term.

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